[nylug-talk] Looking for recommendations on Linux Distro for high traffic web server and remote access client/server

[Sunny Dubey]

On Saturday 15 March 2008 12:32:00 am Steve Eisenberg wrote:
> I'm fairly new to the list and was wondering if a few folks  can offer
> some advice. I am looking to move my web hosting to another linux based
> service and want to know which version of Linux is best for running 20
> to 30 web sites, along with an ad server, email, and other web apps on
> one box. Many people have suggested CENT OS, but want to be sure I'm
> making the right choice. Would anyone care to comment?

The goal isn't to have a blind distro search, but to have a pragmatic one.

You should ask yourself the following questions about all distros:

1 - Is the user base large enough so that a) I can get free support from 
the community and b) I won't get stuck with bugs that nobody else has run 
into ?

2 - I have 20-30 websites to migrate, they need PHP $VERSION and 
mod_foobar $VERSION ... does this distro provide me with what I need ? 
would it be easy/cheap to get what I need if it doesn't ? (Be wary of 3rd 
party backport software pools that offer unofficial packages of newer 
software for older distros.)

3 - (thinking long term) What is the sustainability of this distro ? will 
updates be around in two years ? three years ? who funds the 
development/security updates ?

The more work your distro does, the less work you have to do.

That being said, I too recommend RHEL or CentOS.  The user base is very 
large for either.  Version 5.x of both provide fairly up to date versions 
of software.  And Redhat will be around for a long time to come.

-- 
Sunny Dubey

  mail:  sunny at audiowiki.org
  tele:  212.333.3542